The defendant, a former employee of Aramark, a food services/facilities management company, was assigned to the Mount Vernon School District Food Service Department located within Mount Vernon High School at 100 California Road.

From Sept. 10, 2010 to Jan. 3, 2011, the defendant stole more than $35,000 from the Mount Vernon School system.

The defendant accomplished this by intentionally manipulating the food service monitoring program located in the food service department office where the defendant worked. This "Master Computer" program is used to monitor the lunch program of the 16 schools which encompass the Mount Vernon School System.

The defendant did not have the authorization to access the edit portion of the program and used this program to falsely reflect lower cash receipts from said schools, thereby enabling the defendant to withhold cash on a regular basis, which she then kept for her own personal use.

By manipulating the program to conceal the actual amount of lunch money collected, the defendant stole in excess of $35,000 in lunch money revenue.

Bail of $1,000 was continued.

Sentencing will be on March 11, 2014.

The defendant faces a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Conway, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, is prosecuting the case.

Karen Velasquez

In compliance with Disciplinary Rule 7-107A of the Code of Professional Responsibility, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.